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Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Uganda Hails U.S. $5M Bounty on Joseph Kony

    {{Uganda has welcomed the US’ offer of up to $5m to any person who captures or provides information for the arrest of LRA commander, Joseph Kony, or any of his two top deputies; Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen.}}

    The US government announced the offer on Wednesday night.

    Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa described the cash offer as a “motivator” for those interested in pecuniary benefits.

    “We don’t hunt for LRA commanders and fighters so that we get money, but so as to end their terrorism,” Mr Kutesa said.

    “However, it [the bounty] is a motivation for whoever wants to get that money…and any additional support [for eliminating LRA] is welcome.”

    However, the US Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry, said on Wednesday, as he announced the expanded War Crimes Reward Programme, that any sharp shooter who takes any or all the trio out of action will not receive any of the monetary rewards,

    “…This is not a dead-or-alive bounty programme. Information must lead to the secure arrest, transfer, or conviction of these people in a court of law,” the Department of State quoted Mr Kerry as having said. “We want these men to look into the eyes of their victims and answer for their actions.”

    LRA is accused of committing various war crimes, including rape, murder, enlistment of children as sex slaves and fighters as well as plunder.

    NV

  • Juba Oil Will Resume Flowing to Port Sudan today

    {{The first barrels of crude oil from the oilfields in the oil-rich Unity state of South Sudan will begin to flow today through the pipelines to Port Sudan, announces the government on Friday.}}

    Government’s spokesman, Barnaba Marial, told the press after the cabinet meeting on Friday, chaired by the vice-president Riek Machar, that Tharjiath oilfield in Koch county of Unity state, will begin the resumption of the oil production on Saturday and pump it through the over 1,400kms long pipeline passing through the neighbouring Sudan.

    The minister of Petroleum and Mining, Stephen Dhieu Dau, and other accompanying senior officials will travel to Tharjiath oilfields on Saturday to witness the pumping of the first barrels of the oil through the pipeline.

    The resumption of the oil production will be the first event in the implementation of the economic deal of the cooperation agreement signed in Addis Ababa between the two regions of the former Sudan who split in July 2011.

    Another oilfield, known as Unity Oilfield in Unity state in the area of Heglig/Panthou in Pariang County is also expected to resume the production in few days.

    South Sudan shut down its oil production in February last year, accusing Sudan of stealing or confiscating the oil due to a disagreement over how much transit fees the new oil-producing nation should pay to its neighbour.

    The situation had affected the economies of both countries that largely depended on oil revenues in order to run their machineries.

    The two countries as a result of the oil shutdown had to cut back on spending in their institutions by introducing austerity budgets.

    In South Sudan the government cut off a number of allowances, including the housing allowances that used to top up to the salaries resulting into the loss of nearly 50% of the overall salary of a civil servant in a country where accommodation poses a big challenge.

    Despite the resumption of the flow today it may take weeks before the empty pipeline fills up with the crude oil ready for loading at Port Sudan.

    Petroleum minister Dau on Friday also announced that South Sudan and Sudan will organize a coordinated celebration in three weeks on the resumption of the oil production.

    (ST)

  • Tanzania gov’t Plans to Kickout Maasai off Land

    {{Tanzania’s government is preparing to kick Maasai tribesmen off cattle-grazing land near the country’s most famous wildlife park and will instead allow a hunting company from the United Arab Emirates to take control of it, groups and community members trying to raise awareness on the issue said Friday.}}

    The reclassification of the land will create a “wildlife corridor” that will prevent the Maasai from accessing lands they’ve long used, thus destroying their traditional nomadic cattle-herding lifestyle, said Sarah Gilbertz of Survival International, a London-based group that works for the rights of tribal people worldwide.

    Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism announced last week that it would not allow Maasai on a 1,500-square-kilometer section of the Loliondo Game Controlled Area “in order to resolve existing conflicts” and “save the ecology” of the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Loliondo game reserves.

    But the groups say that’s just an excuse to benefit a hunting company.
    “Although the government claims that the land is needed as a corridor for wildlife, the area is leased to the Ortello Business Corporation of the United Arab Emirates to use for trophy hunting,” Gilbertz said.

    Ortello couldn’t be reached for comment Friday. Businesses are typically closed on Fridays in the UAE.

    The Serengeti is considered to be one of the world’s natural treasures.

    The reserve is a vast plain dotted with acacia trees and watering holes, where wildebeest and zebra gather in huge herds for annual migrations.

    More than 2 million animals migrate north from Serengeti into Kenya’s adjacent Maasai Mara reserve every year.

    The Maasai tribes indigenous to the region also use the land to graze cattle and other animals.

    Robert Kamakia, a Maasai community member who works for an aid group that helps pastoralists, said many meetings have taken place in recent days to try to solve the impasse, but no progress has been made.

    “Now the government is organizing to set up the place so that livestock and human activity will be prohibited, and it will be the end of the community here because actually 90% of the community are depending on pastoral activity,” he said, referring to Maasai who herd cattle and goats.

    Ian Bassin, campaign director for the activist group Avaaz, said tens of thousands of Maasai villagers could be driven off the land.

    The last time the government tried to clear land for Ortello, security forces burned villages and tens of thousands of head of livestock died, Bassin said.

    {Associated Press}

  • Odinga Hits at Judges For Uhuru Win

    {{Prime Minister Raila Odinga has criticised the decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the fourth President.}}

    He termed the decision by the country’s highest court a week ago, unpopular. He said the decision was like the wrong persecution of Jesus Christ.

    “The decision is like the persecution of Jesus Christ that occurred more than 2000 years ago.

    But like Jesus, I am still alive,” said the premier, while addressing hundreds of residents in Kondele, Kisumu on Friday.

    The PM said the Supreme Court, under its President Willy Mutunga, made its decision during Easter, on the same period Jesus was persecuted, died and rose again.

    Raila said he would continue to fight for democracy, despite losing the presidency.

    He urged Kenyans to continue to fight for justice and democracy, adding he would spearhead this struggle. “When the cooking stick breaks, it does not mean the process of preparing meals should stop,” he said.

    Carrying a black Bible and dressed in a checked blue shirt and black pair of trousers, the premier said Kenyans had been let down by last week’s decision.

    “Kenyans waited anxiously for the ruling. However, they were betrayed by the court’s ruling intended to kill my political career,” said Raila, amid chants from the crowd.

    The decision by the Supreme Court sparked protests in some parts of the country, and two people were shot dead in Kisumu.

    Raila said the court had ignored vital evidence presented by the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD).

    “We presented adequate evidence to the Supreme Court but it was expunged without any consideration,” he said.

    {standard}

  • India Wants East Africa’s Oil & Gas

    {{East Africa’s oil and gas prospects continue to attract attention from around the globe, with India becoming the latest to express interest in the region’s oil resource.}}

    Mr Ravi Bangar, the joint secretary, Eastern and Southern Africa, ministry of External Affairs, India told Prosper on the sidelines of the 9th Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – Exim Bank India-Africa partnership recently that India plans to become active in East Africa’s upstream and downstream oil sector as it seeks to meet its refining capacity.

    The upstream oil sector includes exploration and production of oil and gas while downstream involves the refining of petroleum crude oil, processing and purifying of raw natural gas as well as the marketing and distribution of products derived from crude oil and natural gas.

    Oil and gas discoveries in Uganda and Kenya have attracted interest from Tullow Oil – a UK based firm, France’s oil major Total and Chinese CNOOC among others.

    Uganda has an estimated oil resource of about 3.5 billion barrels, while Kenya recently discovered oil in the Turkana.

    Venturing into the East African region will add the two East African countries to the likes of Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Egypt, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Sudan, where India imports crude oil to meet its increasing oil and gas demands.

    India is the fourth largest oil importer, with oil and gas constituting 45 per cent of the country’s primary energy basket.

    About 78 per cent of India’s petroleum consumption is met from crude oil imports, while about 25 per cent of natural gas consumption also comes from imports.

    India has the biggest oil refineries in the world, with an installed capacity of 668,000 barrels per day, located in the oil complex of Jamnagar in western Gujarat but currently refines 27 million tonnes per anum or 540,000 barrels per day.

    The high crude oil exports are said to have increased trade between Africa and India, with Africa’s exports to India estimated at $43 billion last year while India’s exports to Africa were valued at $23 billion.

    As Africa’s economic development gains momentum and its energy demands are on the increase, India is also poised to become a dependable supplier of petroleum products to Africa.

    The country’s refining capacity is set to increase from the current 194 million tonnes per annum to 238 million tonnes by the end of this year.

    This means an additional need of 40 million tonnes of crude per annum. Africa, which has limited refining capacity, provides market for India’s booming petroleum exports.

    India exported 50 million tonnes of refined petroleum products during 2010/11 valued at about $40 billion.

    NMG

  • Wearing Mini-skirt Could Land You in Ugandan Jail

    {{Wearing of miniskirts could soon land one in jail or attract heavy fines if Parliament approves a new piece of legislation that seeks to further clarify the offence of pornography in Uganda’s laws.}}

    The government is riding on its view that pornography has become such an “insidious social problem” to get the Bill through Parliament.

    It also argues that because there has been an “increase in pornographic materials in the Ugandan mass media and nude dancing in the entertainment world”, there is need to establish a legal framework to regulate such vices.”

    In its current form, it is proposed that those found guilty of abetting pornography face a fine of Shs10 million under the draft law titled: The Anti-Pornography Bill, 2011 or a jail stint not exceeding 10 years, or both.

    But the draft law ran into early turbulence in the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee yesterday after some members expressed concerns about its implications for freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution.

    MPs in the committee also criticised the government’s attempts to legislate for sex, a course of action which could see it labelling some age-old cultural practices as pornographic.

    The Bill defines pornography as any cultural practice, form of behaviour or form of communication or speech or information or literature or publication in whole or publication in part or news story or entertainment or stage play or broadcast or music or dance or art or graphic or picture or photography or video recording or leisure activity or show or exhibition.

    It also prohibits any combination of the preceding that depicts unclothed or under clothed parts of the human body such as breasts, thighs, buttocks and genitalia, a person engaged in explicit sexual activities or conduct; erotic behaviour intended to cause sexual excitement and any indecent act or behaviour tending to corrupt morals.

    Lawmakers said the Bill’s definition of pornography was too broad and that it went against Uganda’s tradition of being tolerant of cultural diversity.

    NV

  • 3 ICC Witnesses Refuse to Testify Against Uhuru

    {{Reports from Kenya reveal that International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has suffered another setback in her case against President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta. }}

    Just three months to the start of Uhuru’s trial on July 11 at The Hague, it is emerging that three prosecution witnesses have refused to testify against him.

    Witnesses Number 2, 9, and 10 were among the 12 Bensouda relied on to have the charges against Uhuru confirmed by the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II in January last year.

    Recently, the prosecutor dropped another, Witness Number 4, in the case against Uhuru citing credibility issues after he recanted his testimony.

    This also prompted Bensouda to withdraw the charges against Uhuru’s former co-accused, Francis Muthaura, a former Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet.

    Uhuru’s lawyers and the prosecution have battled over the implication of the shelving of Witness Number Four’s testimony, with Uhuru insisting charges against him ought to be withdrawn too.

    Trial Chamber V judges are yet to rule on the application by Uhuru’s legal team.

    In the latest submission to the court, in response to earlier submissions by Uhuru’s lawyers, Bensouda discloses that Witnesses two, nine and 10 have changed their minds after having earlier expressed willingness to, citing security threats and fears of retaliation against their families.

    Rethinking decision

    In a detailed submission to the three judges of Trial Chamber V, Bensouda explained the circumstances in which each of the witnesses had balked.

    “When the Prosecution contacted Witness Two on November 3, 2012, to confirm his availability to testify, he said he was rethinking his decision,” the prosecution says in the court filing dated March 28.

    She added: “The Prosecution made several attempts to persuade Witness Two to testify, either as a Prosecution or as a Court witness, but on November 20, 2012, he informed the Prosecution that his decision not to testify was final.”

    The Prosecutor also said that Witness Nine informed her office on August 17, last year, that he was unsure whether he could continue to co-operate with her office.

    The witness, Bensouda added, developed cold feet due to what she termed as “concerns about retaliation against his family from the accused persons”.

    {Standard}

  • Carter Center Slams Kenyan vote on tech failures

    {{An American election observer group led by former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday that Kenya’s March 4 presidential election suffered serious technological shortcomings and that election officials at times prevented observers from carrying out their mission, but it said the election’s paper trail preserved the will of Kenyan voters.}}

    The Carter Center said the initial release by Kenya’s election commission of inaccurate vote figures challenged voter confidence in the commission. It also said a lack of transparency in the national count marred the vote.

    The commission named Uhuru Kenyatta the winner with 50.07 percent of the vote. The result was challenged by Prime Minister Raila Odinga and civil society groups but upheld by the Supreme Court.

    Kenyatta is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges related to the deadly violence Kenya saw after its 2007 election.

    Those charges have threatened to cool Kenya’s relations with the West.

    However, the United States Embassy says its ambassador will attend Kenyatta’s swearing-in next week.

    Britain, Kenya’s other major Western partner, has not yet announced if its high commissioner will attend.

    Kenyatta’s team accused Britain’s top representative in Kenya of meddling in election matters, straining the countries’ relations.

    The Carter Center congratulated the people of Kenya on keeping peace in spite of long lines on election day, the release of inaccurate early electronic results and being provided with uneven turnout figures from vote tallies.

    The center said that the election commission, known as the IEBC, confined party representatives and election observers to the sidelines at the national counting center, “making effective observation impossible.”

    “In the absence of access to compiled documents and to IEBC personnel, the national tally of the presidential results forms was effectively rendered non-transparent for stakeholders and observers,” the Carter Center said.

    Government officials and civil groups tried to ensure violence did not break out en masse during this election, as it did in 2007-08, when more than 1,000 people were killed.

    Five people died in violence after the Supreme Court upheld Kenyatta’s win but most of the country remained peaceful.

    The Carter Center called it “worrying” that the number of registered voters announced by the electoral commission changed in the last weeks of the voting process.

    A variation of 100,000 registered voters suggested that data had changed with no explanation from the electoral board and no opportunity for public scrutiny.

    The Carter Center, echoing complaints by Odinga and the civil society groups, said it regretted that the election commission was unwilling to publish results by polling station.

    The IEBC has said it carried out a free and fair election but it was not able to explain all of the voter number discrepancies before the Supreme Court.

    Gladwell Otieno, the executive director of the Africa Center for Open Governance, which challenged the election results at the Supreme Court, said the Carter Center’s findings — a mixture of positive and negative observations — is the result of a difficult balancing act for observers, given that Odinga accepted the court’s decision to uphold Kenyatta’s win.

    “The flaws in the process were so manifest it wouldn’t be credible if they didn’t recognize them,” she said.

    “As civil society we have to be grateful that the IEBC is being put on the spot because that has to happen. At the same time I don’t see how they could describe the manual tallying as acceptable or credible.”

    Gladwell noted that the judiciary’s own report from the registrar of the Supreme Court lists one Kenyan voting region — Laikipia West, with 70,760 votes — as being unable to verify votes cast.

    Kenyatta secured his majority election win by only 8,400 votes out of more than 12.3 million cast. Field reports for Gladwell’s organization indicated that many constituencies saw turnout over 100 percent.

    “We feel that the IEBC has to answer for its conduct and its use of public money,” Otieno said.

    “We think the IEBC really, really let Kenyans down and we can’t just sweep this under the carpet. We have another election in five short years.”

    AP

  • UPDF Captures Al Shabaab Last Stronghold

    {{The Ugandan contingent of the African Union Mission in Somalia – Amisom has overrun Baidoa, the last bastion of Al-shabaab militias in Somalia.}}

    The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces – UPDF contingent who are backed by Somali government troops entered the militia base on Tuesday without meeting resistance.

    Brigadier Michael Ondoga, the Ugandan Contingent Commander says the capture of Baidoa is significant because it will allow free movement of goods and people to the capital Mogadishu.

    Ondoga says the fall of Baidoa also opens up the key supply route for humanitarian organizations to reach to the people who are in need of relief aid.

    He says the UPDF and other coalition forces will now operate with ease along the 241km stretch from Mogadishu westwards to Baidoa.

    Lt Gen Andrew Gutti, the overall Amisom Force Commander, says the fall of Baidoa reiterates the African Union’s commitment to supporting the Federal Government of Somalia in its efforts to provide security to the population.

    Major Henry Obbo, the Spokesperson of the Ugandan Contingent, says the fall of Baidoa is essential for the rapid deployment of ground troops.

    He says in the past the UPDF had been linking up with the Burundian contingent in Baidoa only through the air.

    This comes just over a month after the UPDF also captured the headquarters of Alshabaab militias at Buur-hakba in late February.

    The town is located 64 kilometers southeast of Baidoa and had reportedly been the headquarters of Alshabaab since they were dislodged from the Capital Mogadishu and Kismayu.

    Wirestory

  • Uhuru : Why ICC Should Drop Charges Against Me

    {{President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta has explained to trial judges at the International Criminal Court why he wants them to dismiss the case against him, or send it back to the Pre-Trial Chamber II.}}

    In submissions filed by his lawyers Steven Kay and Gillian Higgins, Uhuru argues the prosecution has built a new case after discarding testimony used by Pre-Trial Chamber II judges to confirm the charges against him.

    Uhuru has asked the Trial Chamber judges to refer the decision to confirm charges against him back to the Pre-Trial Chamber II for reconsideration, arguing his committal to trial is based on false testimony.

    ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dropped witness number four after he recanted his evidence and, subsequently, dropped the charges against Uhuru’s co-accused, former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura.

    Uhuru’s legal team argues that as with Muthaura, the grounds for terminating the trial against Uhuru are based similarly on a lack of evidence to support the confirmation of charges decision.

    They cite Article 64(4) of the Statute saying failure by the prosecutor to disclose key evidence has an impact on the conduct of the proceedings now before the Trial Chamber.

    “The defence submits that the withdrawal by the prosecutor of the charges against Muthaura requires the Chamber in this case to consider exercising its power to terminate the proceedings against Mr Kenyatta, in performing its functions prior to the commencement of trial,” his lawyers argue.

    Uhuru has consistently reiterated that his case at The Hague cannot stand without that of Muthaura since the two cases are linked.

    He has argued the prosecution has consistently framed its case as a common plan involving the two of them.

    “Any decision regarding the liability of Muthaura would necessarily, on the prosecution’s own analysis, impact on any determination of Uhuru’s liability. In short, the mode of liability as confirmed cannot be maintained against Uhuru without Muthaura,” his lawyers said.

    {{False testimony}}

    Uhuru’s lawyers argue that confirmation of charges was based on false testimony of Witness Number Four who claimed to have witnessed alleged criminal meetings.

    But the prosecutor has insisted there is enough evidence to support the charges against Uhuru.

    Uhuru contends about “84 per cent” of the testimonial evidence the prosecution intends to rely upon in the trial was collected after the confirmation of charges.

    “The extent of the prosecution’s post-confirmation investigations in this case is manifestly excessive and has resulted in a fundamental factual shift of the prosecution’s case,” he says in submissions after last month’s status conference.

    Uhuru’s lawyers say the prosecutor’s late investigations and delayed disclosure of evidence led to the postponement of the commencement of trial.

    They note that the prosecutor must apply to the Trial Chamber to have the evidence gathered after confirmation of the charges against Uhuru admitted.

    “The prosecution must not be encouraged or permitted to proceed to confirmation on unsatisfactory evidence in the knowledge that they will have a second chance to fill gaps and omissions at a later stage,” says Uhuru’s defence counsel in their filing.

    In his latest submission of March 28, just two days before the Supreme Court upheld his presidential victory, Uhuru says it was “irresponsible of the prosecution to elect to proceed to confirmation before it had thoroughly investigated its case.”

    Recently, Pre-Trial Chamber II allowed Bensouda to add to the document containing the charges that victims in the case against Uhuru also died of gunshot wounds in Naivasha.

    {{Pre-Trial}}

    In the decision issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber II presiding judge Ekaterina Trendafilova, who confirmed the charges against Uhuru and three others, she said from four witness statements, it was clear guns such as G3 rifles and AK 47 were used in the killings in Naivasha.

    “From an evidentiary perspective, the prosecutor has fulfilled her statutory duty by presenting evidence which supports her allegation that victims were also killed by gunshot in Naivasha,” Trendafilova said in the ruling.

    Uhuru argues that in opposing the amendment the prosecutor was basing her arguments on evidence gathered after the confirmation of charges, which is against the Statute.

    “To allow automatically the admission of wholly new evidence that was available with the exercise of reasonable diligence at confirmation, but which was not collected or presented by the prosecution, without any judicial oversight, would be to emasculate the confirmation of charges process and denude confirmation decisions of the required legal certainty,” say Kay and Higgins.

    Bensouda last week opposed a request by Uhuru, his deputy William Ruto and Radio Journalist arap Sang to follow the trial proceedings via video link.

    She stated the Rome Statute required the accused to be present in the courtroom for their trial. The judges are yet to rule on the matter.

    Standard